Staying in the Present, Looking to the Future
by Lady of Elysion
Summary: Sequel to Back to the Past, Away from the Present. Hermione and Severus begin their new life together, though it's not as easy as they would want. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: A month has past and I am still yet to own Harry Potter, I keep asking but my letters are never returned…

Read Back to the Past, Away from the Present first, else wise you won't understand what's going on.

Chapter 1: Jobs, Living Arrangements and an Apprenticeship

"You can't just keep saying 'no' to everything Severus!"

"Oh, but I can. Especially if I do not think your choice is suitable."

After revealing their relationship to the rest of the school, things began very slowly for Severus and Hermione. The Board of Governors had found out the next day and nearly made Hermione repeat her seventh year all over again, not believing that he had marked her just as fairly as he did the rest. It was only when another potions master checked through her work did they leave the pair alone, declaring that Severus had not tampered with her grades. To say the least the being accused of tampering with a students work did not go down well with Severus when he heard their announcement. It took over an hour for Hermione to calm him down, and even then he glared at the governor clearly wishing to send a good hex in his direction.

Since then the holidays had started meaning that Severus was allowed to leave the castle until he was required to return a week before term started. Though at first Hermione wondered where they would live Severus waved away her worries and, after some very tricky wand work, he managed to expand his own small house. Spinners End was not what Hermione had expected to be her first house to look like but after persuading a reluctant Severus, she began to redecorate the house, both inside and out. Severus soon found that his worries for what the house would look like were, thankfully, far from the truth. While Hermione brightened up the house up somewhat, she had considered the owners preferences and kept to blues, greens and (in some cases) blacks.

While she enjoyed her new living arrangements, Hermione soon began to think of what she was going to do with her life. She had definitely not expected to be engaged when she graduated and it threw her off her original plans, not hat she had known what she wanted to do. Hermione had a basic idea of what fields she thought she'd enjoy working in and, now that it came to choosing, she was having problems. Not in thinking of a good job in general, no she was fine with that, it was getting her fiancé to agree with her choice that was the hard part.

'_I know that he's only trying to help but still, he can not keep shooting down all of my ideas,'_ Hermione thought, now really getting annoyed with Severus' antics.

"Ok then _Sevvie_," she began, stressing on his nickname. "What would you suggest I do? You know that I was planning to send out requests for jobs this morning so why are you being so difficult?"

"Damn name. I'm not being difficult; I am merrily trying to stop you from wasting your talent at pointless jobs at the Ministry when you could be putting your knowledge to better use," Severus stated calmly.

He knew how much Hermione wanted to work at the Ministry, but he also knew how things worked their and that she would not enjoy it at all. He could not picture her at a desk job nor could he imagine her enjoying fixing up others magical mistakes. The way Severus saw it he was just preventing her from wasting time when she would surely quit herself within the week of her starting.

Severus saw Hermione start to fiddle with the locket she still kept around her neck at all times. He knew that she was thinking about what he had said to her and Severus hoped that she would see that he was correct in saying that she could definitely use her talent elsewhere.

Looking up to face Severus, Hermione had come to a decision. With a determined look on her face she began to speak.

"Ok Sev, how's this then? We will both think of a job that I might enjoy and tonight we will tell each other. If neither of us likes the idea then you will let me make my own choice tomorrow, regardless of whether you think it suits me or not."

Severus titled his head, considering her proposition. He knew that it would be the only way that he would get a say so he agreed to her idea. Hermione grinned and stood, moving over to where Severus sat at their kitchen table. She leaned down and kissed him lightly on his lips and began to look for her cloak and bag.

"Wait Hermione, where are you going? Surely you're not that anxious to get away from me?" Severus asked in a mock hurt voice, but his smirk gave him away.

"I will be looking of a job that I won't be 'wasting my talent' in."

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Hermione wondered through Hogsmeade with a small smirk on her face. She knew perfectly well that she would be unhappy in a desk job at the Ministry, though she wouldn't mind working a department dealing with magical creatures, she knew that she would eventually become bored with the job. The main reason that she continued to search through the _Daily Prophet_ long after she couldn't find a job that she would enjoy was to gauge what Severus would have thought of her working at the Ministry.

'_Well he definitely wasn't pleased with the idea of that happening was he?'_

She knew that he wasn't going to be pleased if she expressed an interest in working at the Ministry. What she didn't expect though was how much argument he put up if she were even to mention it as a possibility. Hermione gathered that it was because Severus still held ill feelings towards the Ministry after they tried to convict him of being a Death Eater after he had proven himself not once, but twice. It was during her second last year at Hogwarts that Voldemort was finally killed by Harry Potter and both Severus and Lucius were almost immediately thrown into Azkaban with out a trail. Even with the overwhelming evidence of their innocence provided by Dumbledore the Ministry only barely accepted that they were not on the dark side.

Looking up Hermione realised that she had arrived at her destination. The castle that was Hogwarts still loomed large and impressive over its huge grounds. In the distance she could see the forest which still looked as intimidating as ever as the mist of the morning still hung around the foremost trees, though it should have disappeared long ago. Carefully opening the front gates, Hermione entered and began her long walk up to the doors which lead to the inside of the castle.

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"So you see Sir, if you have any positions open, it would be greatly appreciated."

Albus Dumbledore smiled down his crooked nose at the young women in front of him. He knew that if any of his students were likely to be drawn back to the castle, it would be the women who sat in front of him.

"Now Hermione, I believe that now you are no longer a student you can call me by my first name."

"Of course Albus," Hermione said smoothly, she had always called him by his name in her mind once she left school but habit had kicked in now that she was back inside Hogwarts.

"Good, now as for your request for a position on the staff, I'm afraid that there are no current positions open. Though, I must admit, I am surprised that you're job hunting and not with Minerva."

Seeing the confused look on her face he continued, "While there are no positions on the staff I believe that Minerva previously offered you an apprenticeship. I had wondered when you would be accepting her as your mentor through Transfiguration, as I know that she wished to train you as her successor personally."

Hermione's face turned a light shade of pink as she remembered the extra certificate that came with her graduation. Silently she berated herself for forgetting something as important as an apprenticeship offer. Now she could have a position at Hogwarts, train under one of her favourite teachers and, most importantly, stay near Severus.

"Thank you Albus!" Hermione exclaimed, "Though I can't believe I would forget something so important…"

"Even those of us with great minds forget things in the shadow of others, Hermione," Dumbledore said, his blue eyes twinkling, "and there is no need to thank me. I'm sure that Minerva will be over-joyed to know that her successor will be her favourite student," Dumbledore finished, smiling at the grinning women in front of him.

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As he got ready for bed Severus knew that something had changed with Hermione. She seemed far happier then when she left and he knew that it meant that she had found a job that she would enjoy. As he realised this, Severus decided that even if he did hate her choice of work he would not fault her on it. He knew that she would appreciate that over him constantly putting down her ideas.

Severus was just getting comfortable when Hermione walked into the room and crossed over to the bed. Though it had been awkward on the first few nights, the pair had gotten used to sleeping in the same bed rather quickly, something that they were both grateful for. Hermione cuddled lightly into Severus' side and waited for him to suggest a job that he may have found for her.

Looking down at Hermione, Severus smiled lightly as he began to speak.

"I know that you have already found a job Mione," he said, laughing slightly at the shocked look on her face.

"How?"

"Well you were rather obvious. Now I believe that I would like to know what job you have chosen."

Taking a small breath she smiled at Severus.

"I'm going to be working at Hogwarts as an apprentice to Minerva."

After a few minutes of silence Hermione began to wonder if she should try an _enverate_ just to make sure that he was still ok, until Severus finally spoke.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

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That's right I'm back with a sequel! I know that with the first story I updated virtually every day, sorry to say it but please don't expect that this time round, not immediately anyway. My exams are now finished; I had my last today, and most of the next few days will be spent actually sleeping for more then 4 hours a night. This story will not be very long, defiantly no longer the 15 chapters, mainly because I'll be making this up as I go. Please review!

Lady of Elysion


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to dancequeen6675, crazedreader, rowenarave565, FightOrFlight, spikeecat, notwritten, Angelic Bladez, Ninga Monkey - jellybeans and spikesbitch for reviewing!

Disclaimer: Still don't own it no matter how hard I wish, JK is still in complete ownership of Harry Potter … for now!

Chapter 2: Letters, Talks and Reluctant Agreements

The next morning Severus woke feeling a pleasant warmth against his side. He looked down at the young women next to him, smiling slightly at her relaxed face. That was until he remembered what had happened the previous night.

"_I'm going to be working at Hogwarts as an apprentice to Minerva."_

Yes, that little discovery had shocked him greatly, especially seeing as he was already thinking of a way to get Hermione to agree to a job in Hogsmeade. She went one better then what he would've though; asking for a job within the castle itself. Severus would have been quite happy to have her near him as after losing her once, he had no intention of letting that repeat itself, not after he had only just gotten her back.

When she had come back from her 'walk' as happy as she was he knew that he could not have asked her to change her mind. He was still half expecting her to wake up one morning and realise who she had chosen and leave him, but she did not. He was not going to give that situation a chance to rise and to ensure that he had to agree with what she wanted, not all the time but for the most of it he would try.

The only true reason why he had reacted the way he had was because he had not expected her to want to return to Hogwarts, especially as an apprentice. But the more he thought of it, the more the position as an eventual teacher seemed to suit her. After the initial shock had left him he had agreed to her idea of choice, knowing that she had probably already agreed to the position and anything he said against it wouldn't have made a difference anyway.

Severus was drawn from his thoughts when he heard a soft tapping coming from the window. He turned to see a snowy white owl which he recognised immediately.

"Sev, what is…?"

He looked down once more and raised an eyebrow at Hermione, who glared back at him.

"Sorry Hermione, I'm afraid that I didn't understand you. Maybe if you were to speak with your face _out_ of the pillow," Severus answered, smirking as she groaned and slowly drew the covers back.

"Never mind, you're enjoying this aren't you?"

Still smirking he replied, "if only everyone from Hogwarts could see you now. Not such a morning person out of school are you?"

Throwing one more glare at the man next to her, Hermione stood and walked over to the beautiful snowy owl that was watching the pair with what Hermione could've sworn was a look of amusement in her large eyes. Taking not one, but three letters that were clasped in her beak, Hermione thanked Hedwig and gave her an owl treat that she kept near the window. Hedwig hooted her thanks and hopped back out to the windowsill before spreading her wings to fly off to her owner.

After quickly getting ready Hermione sat down at the kitchen table and looked at the letters in her hand. Looking at the writing Hermione could tell straight away who had been writing to her; the familiar untidy scrawl of Ron was the first letter, the second being the neater, larger writing of Harry and the third was the slightly curled hand writing of Ginny. Smiling, Hermione opened the first letter from Ron and began to read.

_Dear Hermione,_

_How's it going over in Spinners End? I've seen pictures of the place and it didn't seem like one of the nicest of places. Though I'm sure that you would have done something about that by now haven't you? I pity Snape's soul if you chose the colours and all that stuff as your favourites. Anyway mum wanted to know if you and Snape (if he wants to anyway, he doesn't have to) wanted to come for dinner sometime before the school year starts again. Congrat's on your job, by the way, though why you'd want to go back to school is beyond me._

_Ron_

Hermione laughed after she had finished reading the note from her friend. She had also heard the underlying plead to not show Severus the letter, so that he wouldn't have to come too. Hermione snorted slightly at that; like Severus would let her go with out him anyway. Shaking her head at his comment on her choice of job she turned to the next letter from Harry while the first was taken from her as Severus walked by.

_Dear Mione,_

_How is everything at the moment? I'm staying at the Burrow at the moment, just until I get my own place. I don't know if you've already found out but I got together with Luna not so long ago, so we're together now. You know that dinner that Ron told you about, if not you should probably read that first, well Luna's coming too so if you can as well that would be great! Hope to see you there,_

_From Harry_

Smiling at the news that Harry had finally noticed Luna's attentions towards him, Hermione was about to place that letter down but that one too was pulled out of her hands before she had the chance. Shaking her had at Severus' actions she pulled the final letter towards her.

_Hey Hermione,_

_How are you? Just letting you know what both the boys have managed to leave out of their letters; you can't come without times can you? Dinner will probably be tomorrow and if you could com before four that would be great. Draco's here at the moment too and Lucius will probably be coming to the dinner as well. Oh Draco wants to write something._

_Hermione, Severus (if you're reading this) how are you? Congratulations on your job Hermione, things will definitely get interesting at Hogwarts now won't they? Have you heard who the Defence teacher is? I doubt you have; no one seems to know except for Dumbledore. Anyway see you two tomorrow._

_P.S Severus you had better show up otherwise father might just go crazy_

_Ok well bye Hermione_

_Love Ginny_

Hermione barely finished the letter before it too was taken from her hands. She didn't really care though, no she was far to busy wondering who the new Defence teacher would be. She wondered for a moment if Remus Lupin had once again been offered the job but shook the idea away; Remus was with Nymphadora Tonks and Hermione doubted that he would return to Hogwarts any time soon.

'_But then who else is there? I can't think of anyone else who would take the job…'_

"So I suppose you'll want to go then?"

Severus' voice snapped Hermione out of her thoughts and she looked up to face him.

"Go to what, Severus?" Hermione asked confused, until her eyes reached the letters in his hands.

"Oh… ooh."

"Yes, 'oh' indeed. So gather that we will be going then?"

"You're ok with going?"

"I will have Lucius and Draco to talk to, I will be fine," Severus answered. Seeing the slight frown on Hermione's face Severus quickly added, "I'll talk to other people, just mainly them."

Sighing softly Hermione agreed and began to get ready for the rest of the day, as Severus wrote a quick reply to Molly Weasley. He left the letters on the table in case Hermione wished to answer to her friends and called for his pet raven, Deimos, to send their answer off.

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Later that night while the two enjoyed a quiet dinner, Hermione began to glance up at Severus, and then look back down at her plate only to repeat her actions only a few minutes later. After five more minutes of Hermione nervously looking up at him, Severus had had enough. Clearing his throat slightly he looked at the fidgeting women in front of him, his eyebrow raised once more.

Looking up at Severus but avoiding his eyes, Hermione stopped moving around.

"I need to ask you something."

"Well that much is obvious. What ever it is just ask it and I assure you that I will not be angry or upset," Severus said, trying to keep his sarcastic remarks at bay.

"Well it's just that in about a week or so I was planning to visit my parents again. The last time I was there it was just a quick 'hello' and my moving out and they asked where I was going. I told them that I was going to be living with my fiancé and now they both want to meet you and they invited us over for a night," Hermione said quickly, looking up at Severus watching for a reaction.

Severus sat quietly thinking about what she had just said. No matter what he told himself, he was not looking forward to telling her parents that he was her professor at Hogwarts and that they had been 'together' since her fifth year. Nor did he want to inform that when she was sent into the past that they had dated then too. No, a talk with Hermione's parents was not something that he wanted to do anytime soon.

"Please Sev, they really do want to meet you. I'm sure that if we explain everything to them that they will understand. My parents are nice people and they will accept our choice and, well please?"

Looking down at Hermione, Severus stood and walked over to where she now stood, watching him. He carefully wrapped his arms around her and sighed softly into her hair, which still fell in soft curls from the spell that Lucius had used on it. When he felt Hermione's arms around him he began to talk.

"To be honest with you Hermione, I'm not too comfortable with having to meet your parents so soon. While age differences like this are common in the wizarding world they are defiantly not so in the Muggle one. However it is best if I do meet them soon, I will have to later anyway and it is better for it to happen now rather then later."

He felt Hermione's body relax at his answer and he placed a soft kiss upon her head. He did not know what he was worrying about really; meeting Hermione's parents. He had lied countless times in Voldemort's face hadn't he? Meeting Hermione's parents couldn't be any harder then what that was could it?

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Ok well I hope that you enjoyed that chapter. I've only got a vague idea of what will be happening in future chapters so if you have any suggestions, especially with the dinner at the Weasley's, please feel free to tell me. It would be greatly appreciated!

Lady of Elysion


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to notwritten, FightOrFlight and Angelic Bladez for reviewing!

Disclaimer: I own my sad pictures that help me write… sadly I do not yet own the characters themselves. No JK still has that right.

Quick A/N Just letting you know that I am blatantly disregarding books five, six, and seven. Sirius and Fred are still alive, as well as Dumbledore and anyone else who may have died in the books. Ok on to the story!

Chapter 3: Dinner, Arguments and Phone Calls

The next day saw Hermione getting read for the dinner at the Burrow. A note had been sent back stating that it was a semi formal meeting and she had been getting herself ready since then. Severus had no idea why she saw fit to get ready over an hour early but stayed out of her way, least he be told to get ready too. Hermione, however, was not spending the time getting herself ready as much as what Severus had thought, instead resizing a robe that she had almost forgotten about.

A set of robes were in the very back of the wardrobe and they caught her attention immediately; they were the robes that Lucius had gotten for her while she was in the past and she intended to wear them for the night. While Hermione knew many spells, she rarely used any to do with clothes and finding them and practicing them is what took her most of her time. In reality it only took her about fifthteen minutes to get ready and Severus, who only came into the room when Hermione showed no sign of leaving, only five minutes.

As Hermione was still rather uneasy Apperating by herself, Severus had wrapped an arm around her so they could leave together. Upon their arrival Hermione began to move away from Severus but found that she couldn't; Severus had moved his arm from around her shoulders to her waist and did not seem to want to remove it anytime soon. He knew that despite her being taken, the youngest Weasley male had still to let go of his crush and he wanted to make sure that the boy knew where he stood.

Letting themselves inside the house they were immediately greeted by a cheerful Mrs Weasley, who ushered them into the backyard, as the lounge would not fit every one in. the first to notice their arrival, surprisingly, was Luna Lovegood, who was dressed in a bright orange robe that was spangled slightly on the edges. She waved quite happily at the pair and walked over to them so that she could greet them properly.

"Hello Hermione, Professor it's good to see you both," Luna said in her usual dreamy voice.

"Hi Luna, it's great to see you too."

Severus knew that Hermione, at the very least expected, him to reply to one of her friends if they spoke to him and to say hello. He nodded to the girl in front of him. "Miss Lovegood, how are you?"

"Very well thank you, Sir. I was worried that there would be some Flying Watashiels, they do enjoy small ponds you know," she said, gesturing to the pond in the garden.

"But you did cast the spell that kept them away, didn't you Luna?"

The small group turned around to see a grinning Harry Potter, who winked at Hermione and Severus when Luna suddenly looked serious.

"Oh, yes. I'm sure I did, we can't have them getting in after all; they enjoy destroying things. I think I'll recast the spell just in case," Luna said in a serious voice, and she quickly hurried over to the pond, slowing cautiously as she reached it.

Harry shook his head smiling and turned to face his best friend and once enemy.

"Hello Hermione, Severus. Glad to see that you two showed," Harry was one of the few who called Severus by his first name, mainly because he was the only one to accept what had happened in their fifth year. Turning to face Severus, he said, "you might want to go and talk to Draco and Lucius; they've refused to talk to anyone and seeing another Slytherin might boring them out."

"Don't you go joining them, Severus," Hermione said, seeing the look on his face. "I want to talk to them both too and I would rather if it was not in the hide away part of the yard."

Nodding his head to show that he had heard, Severus wordlessly left the pair and headed off to where two men with platinum blonde hair stood, eyeing everyone.

Seeing this, another of Hermione's friends took it as a queue that he could make an appearance. Ron Weasley came over grinning at his two friends, though it faded some what when he saw that Severus, too, had come to the dinner.

"Hullo Mione, good to see that you came," Ron said, trying to conceal the fact that he was not happy to see that she had not come alone. "Didn't know if you were coming or not when you didn't reply to our letters."

"But you did get a reply Ron; I saw Severus send one off," Hermione said, frowning.

"You're here now anyway Mione, so it doesn't really matter," Harry said quickly, not wanting a fight to start. He too knew that Ron held a more then platonic liking for Hermione and he also knew what would happen to him if Severus saw Ron make any form of move.

Ron was about to reply when Ginny made her way over almost dragging a reluctant looking Draco with her. Draco looked up when he felt Ginny stop and he smiled lightly when he saw Hermione there. They too had become rather good friends after Draco explained about what happened with the time turner and Draco, after seeing how his father treats her, began to see her as a younger sister. Well figuratively younger sister; Hermione was over two years older then him after the time turners.

"Hermione there you are! Save me from the Two Terrors!" Draco exclaimed dramatically, looking around as if someone were about to attack him at any second.

"The 'Two Terrors' Draco? Anyone care to explain?" She added sounding amused, as she watched Draco's continued actions.

"He means Fred and George; they may have forgiven him but they do rather enjoy trying their new products on him," Ginny answered, laughing as she did. "It's quite entertaining actually, though Draco doesn't think so."

"Of course I don't think so; they nearly set me on fire last time!"

Harry laughed at the memory. "Yeah that was fantastic, that was. Admit it, Draco, if it were me you would've laughed too."

"You've got me there Potter, I might just do that," Draco said, smirking at the look on Harry's face.

"Good idea Draco, that is something I would not miss."

"Lucius, so you've come out of the shadows then?" Hermione said, smiling at her old friend.

"Only after Severus threatened me. I was quite content to just stay in the dark but no, you had to talk to me here."

"Yes, and secretly you're happy that I did, so stop complaining."

"Speaking about being happy about something, Draco told me that you have a new job at Hogwarts. Am I correct?" Lucius asked, interested.

"Yes I did. I'm apprenticing under Minerva."

"Ah, so Severus, you will still have her with you then? It came as a surprise I'm sure; I know that she didn't tell you immediately."

"Well, we agreed that we not mention anything to do with her career until later at night. I'm assuming that is why everyone else knew before?" Severus said, directing the last part to Hermione.

"It is, yes. We said that we wouldn't talk about it until night, but I couldn't really keep it to myself."

"Understandable."

"Yeah it is, isn't it?"

Hermione and the rest turned to face Ron in surprise.

"I bet that she didn't tell you at first because she was afraid that you would be angry. That you would've wanted to spend sometime away from her, right Snape?"

"Weasley, I myself was looking for a job in Hogsmeade for her, so that she _stayed near me_," Severus replied, stressing the last three words, smirking when his face turned red. "I'm afraid, Weasley, that you must grow up and accept the fact that Hermione is with me and not you. You have had two years to get over it and yet you still hold on to the pathetic hope that she will suddenly forget me."

Ron's face matched his hair by the time Severus had finished and, after glaring at Severus with loathing in his eyes, stormed inside the house up to his room; his door slamming could be heard by every one present out and in. He was not present for dinner which, even after Ron's behaviour, was being enjoyed by all. They all seemed to forget about what had happened out side and Severus suspected that Mrs Weasley had slipped some calming draught into their drinks, which he was grateful for. Just before they were to leave, Ginny apologised for her brother's behaviour but Hermione waved it off. It wasn't her fault that Ron couldn't get over things.

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As the week progressed on Hermione became increasingly nervous; it was not long until they were to go to her parents and Hermione was starting to worry. Severus had given up trying to calm her down, but her worrying had begun to make him nervous too. It did not help when a strange noise began to ring through the house.

"What in the name of Merlin is that bloody noise?"

Severus did not like anything that he did not know about, especially in his own house. So when the ringing continued and Hermione acted as if this was a normal occurrence he was not pleased.

"It's just my phone Severus, now calm down and help me find it!"

Severus seriously doubted that she had the right to tell him to calm down; she was running around crazily and she almost yelled at him! Rolling his eyes he pulled out his wand.

"_Accio phone!_"

A small, black object flew over to where Severus stood and landed in he outstretched hand. Wordlessly he handed the ringing object to Hermione, who quickly flipped it open and answered.

"Hello? ……… Oh, hi mum. ……… yes I've told him about it ……… What?! Oh um ok I guess ……… Erm, sure we can drive over, I have my licence ……… ok mum see you then, bye," Hermione sighed as she put down the phone and turned to Severus.

"Who was that?" Severus asked, though he knew who it was.

"That was my mum. She called to tell us when we could come over to their place."

"And, what did she say?" Severus said calmly, secretly dreading the answer.

"She wants us to drive–"

"What do you mean by 'drive'?" Severus asked sharply.

"Oh you don't have to worry about that; I'll do the actual driving, we just have to rent a car is all," Hermione said patiently. "She wants us to drive over and arrive by tomorrow afternoon so we have to start packing now."

Severus didn't like the sound of that.

"Packing?"

"I told you that they wanted us to stay overnight. We have to pack now because we should leave at about ten thirty; it will take at least an hour to get there by car."

Severus sighed, he thought that Hermione was making a big deal out of nothing before but now he could see he was wrong. He may have faced Voldemort without a problem but he was starting to really fear meeting Hermione's parents.

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Ok well there goes another chapter. Just so you know the gap between updates will be no bigger then what this one was. These stories tend to write themselves and when my mind goes blank I can't write anything. Once again if anyone has any ideas it would be much appreciated!

Lady of Elysion


	4. Chapter 4

Lots of thanks to Angelic Bladez, FightOrFlight, spikesbitch, crazedreader, notwritten and rowenarave565 for reviewing!

Disclaimer: I own everything to do with Harry Potter! Well sadly no, I own toys, books and movies but the real thing? No I do not own that.

Chapter 4: Driving, Parents and Arguments

The following morning things went surprisingly smooth; they both got up at the required time and got ready in record time. Breakfast was a silent affair and neither bothered to break it as they were both preoccupied with their own thoughts. Severus, while being calm on the surface, was very nervous and he knew that it would only get worse as he had an hour to build up his doubts and worries. He had already made up his mind to bring one or two Calming Droughts with him so he could at least stay in control of himself.

Hermione on the other hand was only worried about one thing; her fathers reaction. She knew that her mother would understand, after all there was an age difference between herself and her husband. Not as big of a gap as Hermione's but still big enough to matter to most. No she was sure that her mother would not judge nor jump to conclusions, her father however…

Shaking any thoughts of what her father might say out of her head, Hermione informed Severus that they would have to walk the street to the car rental service she had found the previous night. Severus was not comfortable travelling in a Muggle fashion, nor was he comfortable with wearing their clothes. Hermione had said that her parents would expect them to be in Muggle clothing, which meant no robes and, after a short argument from Hermione, far less black then what Severus would have liked.

This found Severus donning a plain black shirt and dark blue jeans with a dark green shirt with him for the next day. While Severus looked very different without his customary black robes and billowing cloak, Hermione quite liked the way he looked now and made a mental note to get him to wear them more often. Hermione herself had dressed in a light purple shirt with elbow length sleeves along a pair of light blue three quarter jeans.

The drive itself was almost completely silent and would have remained that way, if Hermione had not been so annoyed with Severus' attitude. The man looked like he was being driven to Azkaban rather then a trip to her parents and it was starting to grate on her nerves.

"You need to stop it, Severus," she said, glancing to the stony faced man beside her.

"Stop what?" Severus replied, snapping slightly.

"This! You're acting like your being sent to the gallows and I'm sick of it!"

Severus had the decency to look guilty.

"Sorry, I didn't realise I was being that bad."

This being said, Severus pulled out his first Calming Drought for the day and immediately he began to relax. Normally Hermione would not approve of the use of potions to relax but in light of the circumstances and her own worries, for both her parents and the man next to her, she let it slide. The rest of the trip was uneventful as they continued to drive to their destination.

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Severus jerked back into awareness when he felt the car pull into a smaller, more even road. Looking out the window he saw that they had arrived at Hermione's parent's house and he was pleasantly surprised by what he saw. The house was double story and far better kept then how his own parents had treated Spinners End. A small but neat garden of flowers filled out in front of the front veranda with small trees at either side. The house itself was a pale white with a dark brown roof, the edgings of the windows and front door also shared the same dark colour.

Smiling lightly, Hermione watched as Severus observed her childhood home with curiosity. Her smiled faded slightly when she saw the front door open to reveal her mother and father walking out to greet them. Her mother, Marina Granger, had the same hair as Hermione, albeit tamer then Hermione's previous mess of hair, and the same warm smile which was currently being directed at herself and Severus. John Granger, on the other hand, had the same brown eyes as his daughter and his hair was such a dark brown it looked black at times.

Getting out of the car the pair made their way up to Hermione's waiting parents, both smiling slightly and looking far more relaxed then they felt. A look of pleasant surprise flashed on her mother's face as she saw the age difference which was then hidden by a light smile that graced her face. John, however, frowned when he saw Severus, obviously not expecting his daughter's choice to be as old and 'dark' looking as he was.

Hermione tried to ignore her father's face and instead focused on her mother, who had walked down the small stairs to greet her daughter.

"Hermione how are you? You need to visit us more often, though I guess it will be like in the holidays, back at Hogwarts now aren't you?" Marina said cheerfully as she hugged her daughter.

"I know I'm sorry we couldn't come earlier," Hermione said, glancing back at Severus, who has yet to say anything.

Marina turned to face Severus, with a warm smile on her face.

"I'm Marina Granger and this is my husband John, Hermione didn't tell us your name?"

"A pleasure to meet you Mrs Granger. My name is Severus Snape," Severus said with surprising politeness.

"Please call us by our first names, now I've heard your name before," Marina trailed off thoughtfully and turned to look at her husband incase he knew, and indeed he did.

"Snape was it? I know that name," John said, dislike creeping into his voice. "Hermione told us, her professor aren't you, I believe it was potions?"

Noticing the danger signs, Hermione quickly suggested that they continue inside. Her mother readily agreed but her father only nodded angrily, his mood worsening when he saw Hermione take Severus' hand to lead him inside. As soon as the door was closed, John Granger started his attack.

"Hermione of all the people you could bring home, and it's your professor! I remember what you told us about him while you were in school, and yet here you are together with him! He is twice your age by the looks of him! Did he force you to be with him?" John roared at Hermione, Severus looking on with anger in his eyes.

"And you, letting her near you! What are you some kind of paedophile?"

That was the last straw for Severus; how he managed not to say anything when John implied that he had forced himself upon her he did not know. Suggesting what he had, however, was enough for Severus to forget his plan of sitting through accusations and then explaining calmly. He was about to open his mouth when someone else got there first, a rather unexpected someone.

"Jonathon Carrion Granger! How dare you yell at Hermione like that, after she came to us, expecting us to be calm and to listen? She didn't need to come; she could have made any excuse not to, yet here she is. Severus here didn't even get a chance to say anything except his name and already you've started on him. Do you honestly think that Hermione would allow someone to force themselves upon her? She would have told someone immediately and knowing her, she would have been the one to initiate anything. As to the age difference, have you forgotten that you yourself are about five years older then myself?"

John's face was still red with anger though his wife made fair points. Wordlessly he stood and walked out of the room, grabbing the keys for the car as he did so. No one said a word until they heard the engine of the car start and the sound of the car driving out of the driveway.

"I'm sorry about him. Let him drive out his frustration and he will calm down before the day is through. In the meantime would you care to explain how the two of you got together?" Marina said calmly, looking at the pair with curiosity.

So the explanation began, both Hermione and Severus taking turns to explain parts that the other couldn't. They began from the very beginning, starting with the time turner and ending with the many months it took for Severus to accept everything. Marina sat quietly through the story, only talking when she had a question on the situation, all in all accepting what she was being told.

After this was done Hermione's mother left the two alone, telling them that it would be better if they moved up to Hermione's room until dinner was ready (they had had lunch while they were talking). They agreed gratefully and stayed there until they were called back down for dinner.

"Well that couldn't have gone worse," Hermione said in a small voice.

She was lying on her queen sized bed in Severus' arms, her faced buried into his chest.

"I think it could've. If I hadn't had that Calming Drought earlier I may have punched him for what he said."

Hermione laughed quietly, thanking the gods that Severus was an appt potions master and that he could be calm (_'well calmer then normal'_) if needed,

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Well there you go! I hope the ending wasn't too bad, I know it wasn't one of my best chapters. If anyone has ideas for future chapters please let me know! Thanks to The Silver Hedgehog for helping me with the names! Please review, they make me happy :-)

Lady of Elysion


	5. Chapter 5

A very big thank you to FightOrFlight, crazedreader, spikesbitch, rowenarave565, notwritten, Angelic Bladez, GurlOfTheNight, Violet44, nmyphadora, Dizi 85, ProperT, xbeax-sshgfan, GregoryHouseAddict, RedsAttic and Samira Granger for reviewing and understanding my need to stop writing temporarily.

Disclaimer: So much time has gone by! But if you think that means I own Harry Potter then you, my friend, are delusional.

Chapter 5: Unexpected Guest, Dinner and Rest

Though actually short, the wait for dinner seemed to drag on for the couple. They passed time by Severus questioning Hermione about her childhood, asking about things in her room and (he had hidden his laugh when he asked) about who decorated. While the room was not bright pink it still bore resemblance to that of a child's room; the white walls, light blue ceiling he could understand but there were toys everywhere! Bears seemed to be Hermione's most popular toy as there were hundreds of them, according to Severus anyway.

Blushing when she was asked, Hermione explained that because she spent so much of her childhood either in Hogwarts or at the Weasley's she hadn't had much time to change her room as she got older. Severus was smirking at the end of her hurried explanation and the atmosphere lightened some-what, before returning hundred fold when the door bell rang.

The pair slowly stood up and made their way to the stairs reluctantly, both hoping that Hermione's father had calmed down. Well, that's not entirely true; Severus half wished that John was still mad so that he could get that punch in that he wanted before. They were surprised, however, to hear a young and decidedly feminine voice at the door and when she recognised it, a frown appeared on Hermione's face.

"What in the name of Circe is _she_ doing here?" Hermione whispered to herself, a small amount of anger creeping into her voice.

Severus was just about to question what Hermione meant when the 'she' in question came around the corner and into view. She was very tall, taller then Hermione by about half a head, and waist long wavy blonde hair. A light amount of make up had been used with dark shades to match the midnight dress that she wore, with black high heeled boots on her feet. Severus decided then and there that he did not like this girl at all, though he failed to see why Hermione acted the way she did. It was then that the mystery women noticed Hermione and Severus at the base of the stairs.

"Oh Hermione! It's been _so long_ since we last saw each other; I almost didn't recognize you there," She said in a high sounding voice.

"Yes Johanna, it has been a while hasn't it?" Hermione answered, silently wishing that it had been longer still. She was soon pulled into a semi hug as the blonde women strode forward, before turning to face Severus her demeanour changing completely.

"And what would your name be? I'm sure that I've never seen you before, pity that. Did Herms here invite you?" Johanna said, her voice shifting between its higher pitch and a slightly lower, more flirty, tone.

"My name is Severus Snape," he began, ignoring Johanna's tone. "I'm Mione's _fiancé_."

Severus smirked slightly when he saw Johanna's look of disbelief before turning to Hermione hoping for an explanation. Seeing Hermione facing her mother with a questioning look of her own, he too turned to Marina wishing this mess would be cleared soon.

"It must have slipped my mind before, Hermione dear, that we invited your cousin as well. With everything that happen with your father and what you and Severus told me I completely forgot to tell you," she said apologetically, before hurrying into the kitchen to finish off the meal.

"Auntie Marina told me that you were bringing a guest along, Herms, but I had no idea that you were bringing your boyfriend. Strange though, whatever happened to Ron, did the two of you break up?"

Severus thought that Hermione was keeping herself in check rather well considering the circumstances; she hadn't cursed the annoying brat yet anyway which Severus believed was quite an achievement. He smirked again when he heard Hermione's response, especially about the youngest male Weasley.

"I find it strange that she didn't tell you that I was bringing my _fiancé_ to dinner, Johanna. As for Ron, the two of us were never going out in the first place so I don't know where you got that idea from."

Pleased with the lack of response, Hermione grabbed Severus' hand and guided him through into the dining room, making sure that her dear cousin saw the action of course.

"Sorry about her," she whispered. "I honestly had no idea that mum or dad would invite her as well."

"It's fine. Just as long as the brat doesn't try and make any more … _advancements_ towards me, otherwise she will find out about magic the hard way."

"It's a pity that she already knows about it; I would have loved to have seen that," Hermione answered, smiling ruefully.

It was at that moment that the front door was opened once more and John Granger re-entered the house. He had a resigned look on his face and made a small gesture with his hand indicating that Severus should follow him into the lounge room. Giving Hermione's hand a quick squeeze and promising that he would try to keep his temper, Severus followed the older man out of the room. Not five minutes later both men returned, Severus looking disgruntled and annoyed and John looking smug and somewhat happier then before. Making a mental note to later ask what happened, Hermione turned to face her mother as dinner began.

The dinner itself went rather smoothly all things considered. The conversation was kept light and on safe topics, only straying to Hogwarts and magic related subjects when Hermione's new job was brought up. Johanna had made only one or two snide remarks about Hermione's teaching position but any interaction with Severus was kept to minimum. Not because she didn't try but because she was in the seat set the most distance from the potions master. That didn't mean that she hadn't tried though; many times she had tried to flirt with the Slytherin and had even tried hint (subtlety of course) that he should talk to her in private after dinner.

That comment had almost caused Severus to lose his calm and whatever patience he had left. He would have lost control quite happily too if it weren't for Hermione's hand on his knee, acting to not only calm him down, but as a warning of kinds. Marina had also had a hand in stopping a potential disaster by calmly but sternly telling Johanna that she should help her clean off the table while telling Hermione and Severus to get settled for the night.

Both of them had been thankful of Hermione's mothers intervention and had retreated into Hermione's room and they decided not to come down again until the morning. Later on as they both got ready for bed Severus questioned Hermione on the reason for Johanna's advancements towards him.

"She has the unfortunate habit of wanting whatever I seem to have at any point in time. She was here when the Weasley's picked me up in fourth year for the Quidditch World Cup. I guess she thought that I was with Ron as she was flirting with him constantly until Fred slipped her a Tongue Ton toffee," Hermione explained, smiling slightly at the memory.

"Great, that's just what I need. An idiotic, jealous woman who can't understand that I'm most definitely not interested in spoiled brats," Severus said, clearly not pleased with Johanna's jealous attitude towards Hermione.

"Well all that aside it wasn't that bad, I mean, dad didn't say anything else did he?"

When she failed to get an answer, Hermione looked over at Severus from her spot on the bed with a questioning glance.

"Severus?"

"Your father has a very strange way of apologizing."

"Strange how?" Hermione prodded, raising an eyebrow.

"Does he normally threaten to castrate other men when he makes an apology?"

Hermione stared at him for a good two minutes before, much to Severus' displeasure, burst out laughing.

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*Stands behind bullet proof glass*

Please don't hurt me! I know that the wait was considerably longer then a month but hey, if you hurt me now I can't update later! Ok all craziness on my half aside I am sorry for the wait. I hope that this was worth the wait and meets some of your standards. Because I'm in year twelve now please don't expect regular updates, I will try to once a week but that depends on how cruel my teachers decide to be. Please review!

Lady of Elysion


	6. Chapter 6

An unbelievably HUGE thank you to everyone who reviewed and/or sent PM's for chapter five!!!!!!!!!

An extra thanks to Kamarati and GLoW91 for their reviews, which gave my memory a jump start about this story. Strange, really, what a simple 'PLEASE update soon' and correctly guessing my plot bunny's motives can do.

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, the trio would've killed Voldemort with guns rather then talking him to death. Guess I don't own it then.

Chapter 6: Lesson Plans, Houses and a Warning

A month had passed since the visit to Hermione's parent's house. True to her word, Hermione had stayed in touch with her parents since then, bringing Severus along with her. Her father still acted cool and indifferent towards her fiancé, but Marina had confided to them why he still seemed angry at their age.

"I was sixteen when I first started dating him, making him twenty one at the time," Marina had told them. "When you're older, five years doesn't seem like much but at the time, someone my age dating a person in their twenties was rather scandalous. I think he is just annoyed how the two of you were accepted readily while he came under so much fire."

After learning this, Severus had another discussion with John, revealing the troubles they originally met when their relationship went public. However, even though he understood what happened, John's attitude to Severus didn't really change, though things seemed lighter between them now.

As it was so close to the start of term, and Hermione still needed to be settled about what she would be doing in her apprenticeship, the pair left for Hogwarts an week earlier then needed. Almost immediately after they arrived, Minerva had whisked Hermione away, leading her to the transfiguration office so that they could start making lesson plans for the year.

It had been revealed by Minerva that Hermione would start with teaching first and second years under supervision by the current professor. From there, she would slowly ease into teaching third and fourths after the Christmas holidays and taking the younger years by herself. This would continue until Minerva was only assisting rather then doing any real teaching. Hermione had been given all of Minerva's previous plans to base her own off, and Hermione tweaked them to her liking. It had also been revealed that, when her one year apprenticeship was complete, Hermione would take over the position of Gryffindor's head of house, something that was of great amusement to her friends.

"What're you and Severus going to be like when the Quidditch season starts up again?" Harry questioned good naturedly, grinning at Hermione. After hearing that they had relocated to Hogwarts, her friends had started dropping in on them every now and then, all of them planning to continue to even after term had started.

"I'm not too sure, really. I suppose it depends how far I go with the Gryffindor colours," she replied playfully, laughing when Severus sent an incredulous look her way.

"If you wear anything more then a coloured scarf…"

"What, Severus? Are you going to take house points?"

"No… I was thinking of getting the new defence teacher to join us. Two Slytherin's are more then enough to drown out your ridiculous red's and gold's."

Hermione paused at this. "Two Slytherin's?"

"I'm sure you'll find out later," Severus replied, a knowing smirk on his face.

"By the way, Hermione," Harry said, after Severus had revealed that interesting piece of information, "Mrs Weasley was planning to have a huge 'before school' dinner and she wanted to know if your parents would also like to come along. Assuming the two of you would be able to make it?"

Though Hermione nodded, Severus sent a questioning glance at the bespectacled male, causing Harry to roll his eyes and add, "Lucius and Draco will be there too."

"While that is good to know, it was not what I was referring to," Severus said, glaring over at Harry. "After the last meeting I would have thought a longer break between our presence at the Weasley's would be needed. Unless, of course, Weasley has learnt to behave himself?"

"Ron's getting there… _slowly_. I'm sure it won't be long until he gets over whatever it is that's stopping him from accepting you two," Harry paused, sighing. "I'm being optimistic, aren't I?"

"No Potter, you're being foolish," Severus corrected, rolling his eyes as Hermione made a sound of annoyance.

"Severus…"

"Don't worry about it Hermione; his actually right," the silent 'for once' from Harry's playful emerald eyes faded as his tone became more serious. "Honestly Hermione, it might be a good idea for you talk to him when you're over. Bluntly. Ginny's been saying that he's been visiting your parents house a lot recently and he's been coming back happier each time…" Harry trailed off.

After Harry's warning of sorts, Hermione was having trouble keeping her mind off what Ron could be planning, something that was annoying Severus greatly. Too much thought wasted on one who doesn't think enough himself to begin with, was Severus' personal thoughts on the matter, which he made a point of telling Hermione. While his choice of words had a little to be desired, Hermione admitted that she was spending too much time fretting over what the red head could be planning and strengthened her resolve to talk to him on the night of the dinner.

When that night finally came, Hermione and, though he wouldn't admit it, Severus were both glad for the distraction for different reasons; the impending first day of teaching for Hermione and the return of mentally incompetent students for Severus. Regardless of whether they had to deal with Ron's behaviour that night or not, both just wanted to relax for the night. They had arrived early as Hermione wanted to be there before her parents arrived to make sure that nothing would shock them too much in the wizarding household.

However it seemed that even with their early arrival, Marina and John had still managed to arrive sooner then anticipated, if the sounds of awe and questions from both her parents _and_ Mr Weasley were anything to go by. Sighing and ignoring Severus' eye rolling, Hermione opened the door to let them in, freezing when she got over the threshold. Severus moved closer to see what had caused his fiancé's sudden pause and groaned softly as he saw someone he had hoped never to see again.

"Oh hello, Herms, Severus! Didn't even hear you come in!" A shrill voice carried over to their spot by the door, the source a blonde haired girl who was hanging herself off the arm of one Ronald Weasley.

PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!!!!!

I know it's been years!!!! … Ok maybe not years, more like one year and a few months. But still, that's one year and a few months too long. I'm sorry!! Uni started, and then driving lessons and the failness off the world in general really -_- I think my plot bunny has returned, but I'm not going to give a basic date if when I might update next. We've seen the results from that the last two times I tried it. I will say, however, that reviews really do help push me back into writing and that two simple reviews are the reason this chapter has come up at all. By the way, if anyone feels that I'm slowly destroying Severus' character or making him and Harry too friendly, I'm calling in my artistic license. Anyone would relax a bit if their not serving a manipulative, hypocritical and megalomaniac dark lord anymore, so yeah. Please read and review!!!

Lady of Elysion


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